This Week in Ridiculous Regulations

The Senate confirmed Ketanji Jackson Brown as the newest Supreme Court Justice. A rabid fox bit nine people on Capitol Hill, this time literally instead of figuratively. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from honeybee money to Minnesota bulk silos.

On to the data:

• Agencies issued 68 final regulations last week, after 57 the previous week.
• That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 28 minutes.
• With 862 final regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 3,169 final regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 3,257 new final regulations in 2021, President Biden’s first year, and 3,218 in 2020, President Trump’s final year.
• Agencies issued 45 proposed regulations in the Federal Register last week, after 50 the previous week.
• With 609 proposed regulations so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 2,239 proposed regulations this year.
• For comparison, there were 2,094 new proposed regulations in 2021 and 2,094 in 2020.
• Agencies published 502 notices last week, after 459 notices the previous week.
• With 6,139 notices so far in 2022, agencies are on pace to issue 22,570 notices this year.
• For comparison, there were 20,018 notices in 2021. 2020’s total was 22,480.
• Last week, 1,419 new pages were added to the Federal Register, after 2,253 pages the previous week.
• The average Federal Register issue in 2022 contains 309 pages.
• With 20,998 pages so far, the 2022 Federal Register is on pace for 77,199 pages.
• For comparison, the 2021 Federal Register totals 74,352 pages, and 2020’s is 87,352 pages. The all-time record adjusted page count (subtracting skips, jumps, and blank pages) is 96,994, set in 2016.
• Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. There are nine such rules so far in 2021, two from the last week.
• This is on pace for 33 economically significant regulations in 2022.
• For comparison, there were 26 economically significant rules in 2021, and five in 2020.
• The total cost of 2022’s economically significant regulations so far ranges from net savings of $1.14 billion to $3.74 billion. However, this figure is incomplete. Not all such rules issued this year give the required cost estimates.
• For comparison, the running cost tally for 2021’s economically significant rules ranges from net costs of $13.54 billion to $19.36 billion. The 2020 figure ranges from net savings of between $2.04 billion and $5.69 billion, mostly from estimated savings on federal spending. The exact numbers depend on discount rates and other assumptions.
• There are 68 new regulations meeting the broader definition of “significant” so far in 2022. This is on pace for 250 significant rules for the year.
• For comparison, there were 387 such new regulations in 2021, and 79 in 2020.
• So far in 2022, 241 new regulations affect small businesses, on pace for 881. Twenty-six of them are significant, on pace for 99.
• For comparison, there were 912 rules in 2021 affecting small businesses, with 101 of them classified as significant. 2020’s totals were 668 rules affecting small businesses, 26 of them significant.

Highlights from last week’s new regulations:

• A step toward unified auditing requirements for government agencies, which would make apples-to-apples comparisons possible.
• The appearance of law student and business representatives.
• Regulations under the Buy Indian Act.
• Installing pipeline valves.
• Energy efficiency for high-rise federal housing.
• Energy efficiency for low-rise federal housing.
• Daridorexant is now a Schedule IV controlled substance.
• Notification of Interpretation of Section 188 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
• Minnesota bulk silos.
• The Dixie Valley toad is being listed as an endangered species on an emergency basis in order to prevent a renewable energy project from being completed.
• Emergency financial assistance for honey bees.
• Organic livestock origins.
• Another Flugzeugbau regulation.
• Emissions from paints, varnishes, lacquers, and enamels.
• The homework gap.

For more data, see Ten Thousand Commandments and follow @10KC and @RegoftheDay on Twitter.